Are Philip Morris' Disposable Product VEEBA Selling Without Publishing by the MHRA?

On February 28, Philip Morris International (PMI) announced the launch of the disposable e-cigarette brand VEEBA in the UK market. Yet on May 29, 2FIRSTS inquired into the UK Medicines and Health Products Administration (MHRA) published database and learned that the product had not been published as notified to the MHRA

It is understood that, at the time of writing, the MHRA published and notified database on e-cigarette products is kept to date with products registered from August 21, 2021, to May 27, 2023.

However, according to the requirements of the UK regulations, require all e-cigarettes and e-liquids be notified and published by the MHRA before they can be sold. This registration can be carried out by anyone from brand owners, distributors, or transporters. From 2FIRSTS' search, the products of PMI e-cigarette brands VEEV, VEEV NOW, and VEEV ONE are on the registration list. It is understood that VEEV NOW is a disposable e-cigarette, and VEEV ONE is a pod-type e-cigarette. However, VEEBA was not found on the MHRA published database, but VEEV NOW, a very similar product to VEEBA, was found to be registered.

It is worth mentioning that we found out through the British Intellectual Property Office that the appearance of VEEBA Disposable E-Cigarette is exactly the same as that of VEEV NOW.

Is VEEBA registered with MHRA under the VEEV NOW brand name? The registered brand is VEEV NOW, but the product bring sold is VEEBA. Is this still within the bounds of UK MHRA compliance? 2FIRSTS has sent email interviews to PMI and MHRA on this issue. As of publishing, no reply has been received. 2FIRSTS will continue to update on this issue as it progresses, so stay tuned.